Can I avoid parting with my heavy tire carrier?

When I got my '80 CJ-7 it had a tire carrier and I really like the way it looks. It makes it look mean I have since got a tire cover and covered it with a bunch of Jeep Girl-themed stickers. I don't want to part with it, but I have to use a bungee to keep the carrier closed. It is so heavy on the left side (where it meets the clasp) and its pulling the clasp down giving the locking pin the ability to "Jump" out of the designated hole and then lets the tire carrier have all the freedom in the world to swing open all over the place, especially while I'm driving down the highway. I have a feeling that is just not safe. I had a fear one day it would swing open and fall off and there I would be in the middle of highway traffic dragging this huge heavy carrier off to the side of the road and then using all of my strength to throw it in the back of my Jeep. Not something I wanted to do that particular day and that is the reason for the obnoxious bungee cord. Preventative Maintenance... Jeep Style.

So... does anyone have any pointers of where I should be welding, bolting, lifting, etc? so that I can keep my dear Tire Carrier? I guess all I will need is a good description and I should be able to figure out the rest.

Thanks

[LEVE]

Do you have a larger than 30" tire mounted on the carrier?

Yah...

I have a 32" ... U think it could be as simple as downsizing my tire and hoping that I never have a flat? I'm sure we have some smaller tires around here that I could try? That sure would be the easy fix. Here I was thinking I would be able to get the welder out to play

[LEVE]

The tire carrier was never meant to carry a tire larger than the OEM tire, 28". The 32" tire is larger, and heavier. Options I can think of are:

• Reinforce the body behind the OEM carrier mount points.
• Buy a new carrier
• Build/have built a new carrier
• Make sure it's bumper mounted, which means you may have to fab/buy a new bumper or a carrier/bumper combo.

In any case I wouldn't mount a smaller spare, and you've got to get the weight off that OEM carrier.

Thanks... I'll probably take it off for now until I'm sure exactly what I'm going to do. I always did think that the tire looked WAY too big on that carrier. It is like a monster tire! The last thing I want it to do is rip off the back, corner panel. I do have a pic of the huge heavy tire on my profile album if it...if interested?

Thanks again for the suggestions... I'll look into the fab bumper carrier...

[Jim_Lou]

Is it a stock carrier? If not, can you post some pictures of it?

My stock carrier wasn't working right. The problem turned out to be rust. The whole tub had weakened, and the weight of the tire and carrier was twisting the right fender.

As LEVE says, a 32" tire is a good deal heavier than the carrier was designed to handle and that could be the problem. But contrary to what you might have heard, old Jeeps do rust. How extensive was your restoration?

[jeepgod]

That is a stock tire carrier and it will hold your 32" tire, but it won't like it. You will need to re-enforce the mounts on the inside of the jeep. The top passenger mount I would use some angle iron and bolt it down to the top of the fenderwell or something to that effect. and for the lower mount, making an oversized backing plate will help. But first check to see how rusted those corners are, if there is some then fix what you can and then get some corner guards for it. And avoid the aluminum ones, get some good steel corners to bolt on, that will help out a ton. Once you get that taken care of and its squared up, the locking pin should work fine, you could always try putting a spring under the pin to hold it up.

There are also after market tire carriers and the good ones will address the mounting issues and should have some good backing plates. But they are pricey.

So last night while the bf was helping install my new lift, I got distracted and started to focus on the tire carrier...once again. Against what I wanted, I took the carrier off. The fact that the bungees needed to be used, I already knew damage was done, but it is never a good idea to start thinking about it mid-OTHER project. Well and especially not during the install of a YJ lift on a CJ because it really isn't hard or anything?? .

So now I'm up to my neck in projects because my left corner panel is indeed loose and really not attached at all!!!Surprize surprize. So I will have to figure out how to remedy that seeing that I can't exactly weld a brace on the inside of the tub because it is covered in Herculiner. I'll see if I can configure something on the under/backside. Then mid YJ lift install, (and after having already painted the used O.M.Emu Shocks Pink 2 match the Jeep) I find out they are NO good. So my poor Jeep is all Jacked up and trapped in the shop on this beautiful day.

A good way to start the weekend right?